The Lilac Dress
by Agarwaen Lhach
Summary: At the end of the year, there would be the ball, and she would graduate, and HE would visit. She hung the dress on her door and looked at it every morning, a reminder…


Summary: At the end of the year, there would be the ball, and she would graduate, and HE would visit. She hung the dress on her door and looked at it every morning, a reminder...  
  
Disclaimer: Situations mine. Everything else, not.  
  
The Lilac Dress  
  
They held the Graduation Ball every year, and it was for seventh years only, younger students allowed just by invitation. She was beyond excited when she heard, and the first chance she got, she went to buy her gown.  
  
There were many kinds of dresses, red, yellow, green, black, white, gold, slinky, romantic, gaudy. But she didn't have much trouble finding the one that was right.  
  
It was in the back of the shop, on sale because of a small rip along the side. But she was an excellent seamstress, and the rip was conveniently along the stitching. It would be simple to repair, with minimal spellwork required.  
  
It was a beautiful thing, reaching to the floor, the color of lilacs in sunshine, with a soft sheen to it almost as if it glowed. The fabric was soft, and smooth to the touch. The design was simple, silk over satin, and shimmering, as if rhinestones too small to see were woven into the fabric. The laces in the back crisscrossed, leaving no fabric until the waist, where it descended in a shimmering yard to the floor, leaving a trail of plaited silk in its wake.  
  
It enchanted her, and instantly she paid and left, not forgetting earrings and a necklace. It was more than she could pay for, and she had to borrow money from her parents. But it would be worth it, because at the end of the year there would be the ball, and she would graduate, and HE would visit.  
  
She hung the dress on her door and looked at it every morning, a reminder of how she must stay poised, confident, beautiful, because this was her chance.  
  
Stop being a little girl. Start being a beautiful, high-class, elegant woman.  
  
She got a job to pay off her newfound luxuries and began going to a beauty parlor every week. Her carrot-red hair was teased into bouncy, energetic, deep auburn curls, her plain brown eyes into vivacious hazel. And every morning she looked at the lilac dress and smiled, remembering. She rarely tried it on, but when she did, it was a special occasion. All the girls envied her for having the dress, and wanted to touch it, wanted others like it. But they could never, because the lilac dress was hers, all hers, to impress HIM.  
  
And then, finally, the ball.  
  
Eyes turned as she entered the room. Boys goggled, and girls were overcome with jealousy. Her hair had been tied back in two braids that joined to make a long plait down past her waist. She wore an intricate, beautiful necklace and earrings that matched the gown as if they had been made for it — which they very well could have been. To the shock of the girls and joy of the boys, she was unaccompanied.  
  
She was asked to dance over and over, but each time turned them down. Where was HE? Why was HE so late?  
  
And finally, HE entered, walking next to her brother and HIS friend, now engaged. The couple laughed and joked with each other, but HE was slightly distant...until HE saw her. HIS jaw dropped a little, and her lips curved upwards, a little shyly. HE approached her, and she felt her heart leap up a notch.  
  
"Wow, Ginny, you look absolutely..." Harry began.  
  
"Thank you," she said graciously.  
  
"Would you like...would you like t-to..."  
  
"Dance?" she completed, smiling brightly. "Very much."  
  
He took her hand and they danced.  
  
They almost lived happily ever after.  
  
For another year they dated, while Harry worked in his good-paying job as an Auror while Ginny trained for the position. And on the day she passed the final exam, he proposed. They were married the October after he turned nineteen, and Ginny put the dress in the back of her closet and almost forgot about it. The next year, their first child was born, a girl named for Harry's mother. Two years later came baby James, and a year after that, little Sirius.  
  
And then their paradise was lost.  
  
Barely after Sirius was born, Harry was killed by a group of Death Eaters who, once again, had avoided Azkaban. His body came back in so many pieces that the only way he could be recognized was by his wedding ring, placed around the bloody flap of skin and bone that had once been his infamous scar.  
  
Ginny found the wizards and witch and killed them all, every last one. She wanted them to know her pain, Harry's pain. And they did, and she got away with it, but they had cheated her out of a soul.  
  
After that she retired somewhat, working in an office job. Her fading was almost visible, her spirit aging although her body remained the same. Her children grew up, had children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and died, and still she lingered on, unchanging.  
  
Now she does little, waking up in the morning, eating breakfast, working in her garden until lunch, working in the house until dinner, and then going to sleep, repeating the cycle every day. Her friends and family are long dead, her only remaining descendants being one great-grandson, a sweet, innocent little child, so many generations down they are too many to count. She cannot look at him, for when she does, all she can see in his green eyes is her Harry, all she can feel, deep down inside him, is HIM.  
  
One sunny day in the summer centuries after Harry's death, she found the lilac dress in the back of her closet.  
  
It had been faded by light and the rubbing of many fabrics over the years, almost to white, but underneath Ginny could still see the lilac she was enchanted with uncountable years ago. She put it on, and whirled around the room. In her arms she could feel him, kissing her gently as they danced. She twirled and laughed until she fell back onto her bed, where she closed her eyes and finally slept, the smile still frozen on her face, the joy of the moment when she saw him again. 


End file.
